Palestinian President, Israeli Defence Minister Hold Rare Talks

Palestinian President And Israeli Defence Minister Hold Rare Talks

Posted by: Kyeyune Andrew Jonathan in World news August 30, 2021

Israeli Defence Minister Benny Gantz and Palestinian President Mahmud Abbas met in the West Bank on Sunday. These were the first official Israeli-Palestinian talks since Prime Minister Naftali Bennett took office in June.

Gantz travelled to the West Bank city of Ramallah for security and economic discussions with the 85-year-old Palestinian leader, officials said on Monday.

They came hours after Israeli premier Bennett returned from Washington where he met with US President Joe Biden at the White House.

“Defence Minister Benny Gantz met with Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmud Abbas (Sunday) evening to discuss security policy, civilian and economic issues,” Israel’s defence ministry said in a statement.

Gantz, head of a centrist party in Israel’s government coalition, told Abbas that Israel seeks to take measures that will strengthen the PA’s economy.

They also discussed shaping the security and economic situations in the West Bank and in Gaza.

The two further agreed to continue keeping in touch.

The meeting included the head of the Israeli military branch responsible for civil affairs in the Palestinian territories, Ghasan Alyan.

Also, senior PA official Hussein Al Sheikh and Palestinian intelligence chief Majid Faraj were in attendance at the meeting.

Al Sheikh confirmed the meeting on Twitter. Gantz’s office said the defence minister and Palestinian president held “a one-on-one meeting” after the larger talks.

Relations between Israel and the PA, which is based in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, have deteriorated substantially in recent years.

Palestinians derided former Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu, in power from 2009 to 2021. He made no substantive efforts towards resolving the decade-long conflict.

Eleven days of conflict between Israel and Palestinian militants in Gaza in May marked the worst hostilities in the area since 2014. And, despite the Egypt-brokered ceasefire, unrest in the area has continued to sweep over.

Abbas’s PA has also come under mounting global criticism over an alleged crackdown on key rights. The criticism followed the death in Palestinian custody of a prominent activist.

The United Nations and European Union last week expressed alarm over a spate of arrests targeting leading critics of Abbas and the PA.

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